It's that time of year again

This blog is getting pinged by all kinds of first-year law students googling the mysteries of Quasi in rem actions.

Here it is kiddies:
An in rem lawsuit is one that usually concerns real estate (though it could be personal property). Just plain old in rem means settling the relationship between a piece of property and everybody in the world who might have some sort of interest in that property: ownership, occupancy, etc.

Quasi in rem suits also concern property rights, but the suit has a smaller scope; it means settling the relationship between an individual and a piece of property. It doesn't necessarily affect the rights of others who have rights to the property. Quasi in rem suits sometimes occur when a plaintiff sues against the property owned by a defendant. This happens when the defendant himself is beyond the reach of the court, but the property owned by him is within reach of the court. The property then acts as a stand in for the defendant.

Quasi in rem has special significance to American law because of an effed-up property action, an effed-up quasi in rem action to be precise, brought by a charlatan lawyer, to benefit a real estate crony, at the expense of a poorly educated gold miner back in the mid 1800s. The decision from Pennoyer v. Neff changed the face of American law by taking a giant deviation from English law and introducing the concept of personal jurisdiction.

Consequently American law and 1L take off together. Good luck kiddies.